American Society and Politics in Film

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Dr. Strangelove

March 19, 2023

Dr. Strangelove is a satirical comedy about the Cold War fears of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although this film is fictitious, numerous of its laughing points are things that need to be addressed seriously in the world. The deadly power that nuclear weapons put in the hands of politicians and world leaders is a serious threat to the future of the Earth and humanity. By continuously increasing a deadly weapon arsenal, there is a closer approach to making a deadly mistake. As seen in the film, deadly weapons are not taken seriously. From having phone conversations that make light of the topic to discussing the possible underground mines, the value of human life is not seen by the characters. This is something that mirrors real life, although not as outwardly. As reflected in class, singular individuals have a tremendous amount of power in the possible destruction of the world. In the United States, we, wrongfully, often praise ourselves for our abilit

Dr. Strangelove

March 19, 2023

Dr. Strangelove is a dark comedy that portrays themes of fear of nuclear war and its consequences, the danger of leaving power in the wrong hands, and masculinity. Though the film was released in 1964, these themes are still prominent in modern times. In the film, a nuclear attack is called on the Soviet Union, which ends up creating a domino effect of further consequences that ultimately leads to world destruction. The film portrays a nuclear arms race, similar to the race to the moon, and shows a dangerous competitive spirit between countries and politics that end up hurting everyone in the end. Today, there is still a massive fear that there will be a nuclear arms "race" again, but this time with a lot more technology and following destruction. Many countries use the treat of nuclear war in international politics, specifically for the United States going into a nuclear war or becoming victim to a nuclear attack with China and North Korea in recent years. Russia has also de

Dr. Strangelove

March 19, 2023

Strangelove (the film) is mostly concerned with developing a satirical approach to depicting the major political fears present during the Cold War. Naturally, this will include atomic warfare and the movie’s plot is focused on the dangers and benefits of possessing nuclear weapons. At the time the movie was made, fear of nuclear war was at an all time high, but these days people are not so afraid of nuclear weapons. Even when Russia started targeting nuclear power plants in Ukraine or when vague threats against the US were made, people were not very concerned with the threat of nuclear annihilation. Sixty years ago, this would not be the case. The apparent change in attitude is most likely due to the bomb simply existing. Mutually assured destruction, the ultimate result of a nuclear war, acts as a deterrent to nuclear war, until a crazy person gets the nuclear codes. In Strangelove, Russia was attacked due to the outlandish fantasies of one General. Recently, ridiculous conspiracy th

Dr. Strangelove - Natalie Sharp

March 19, 2023

Nuclear War and Gun Rights in the U.S. Dr. Strangelove was a humorous satire that poked fun at the absurdity of nuclear weapons and their power of complete destruction. In class, we discussed how at first this film wasn’t meant to be a comedy, but after putting together all the facts and plot they realized it was too absurd to not be funny. The U.S. and other powerful countries felt this need to one-up each other with nuclear weapons, the more weapons one country got the more weapons the other countries felt they also needed. It became an endless competition until the doomsday weapon was created to elicit complete world destruction in a rare case. The reality of the situation is that with the creation of these weapons of mass destruction comes the actual destruction of the world. These ideas around nuclear weapons really reminded me of how guns are viewed in the U.S. today. We have created these awful killing weapons of mass destruction and with their creation comes their use. Accord

Sydney R - Dr. Strangelove

March 18, 2023

After watching Dr. Strangelove, I was most struck by how much damage the main characters were able to inflict in such a short period of time. It seems like the events in this movie took place over a few hours or half of a day at the most. And yet, the men in charge were able to destroy all of humanity because they had the power to do so. This film emphasized the reality of how much power and trust we give to our leaders, even when they may not deserve it. An issue here is that the general public does not seem to understand how much power these leaders have. It is hard to conceptualize the destruction that a nuclear bomb can cause and I doubt that many individuals would want to be tasked with the responsibility of deciding when and where this type of destruction is necessary. This kind of responsibility requires the leaders that we choose to be perfect which is impossible for humans to achieve. Finding a near-perfect leader is hard enough, but agreeing on one to elect is even har

Dr. Strangelove

March 18, 2023

Maddie D The discussion we had in class and the Atlantic reading reminded me of a conversation I had with my grandma about climate change. I was stressing out about the threat of climate change harming the world and impacting human existence. My grandma responded with a shake of her head and said that every generation has their battles: hers was nuclear war and mine was climate change. She continued to say something about how the threat of nuclear war passed and so would the threat of climate change. At the time this made me beyond frustrated because, in my mind, the threat of climate change was not at all similar to that of nuclear war because it wasn't continuous. Now, several years later, after learning more about the 'doomsday machine' that was created during the Cold War is still very much a threat today. It didn't simply go away like my grandma suggested. It has an ongoing shadow that has the potential to destroy human existence, just like climate change. The r

Dr. Strangelove - Emma G.

March 18, 2023

Dr. Strangelove is a film that takes a comedic stance on the Cold War: a period of tension between the United States and Soviet Union filled with threats of nuclear weapon attacks. When the film was made in 1962, the satire throughout the film was met with laughs; however, today with technology advancements and increased political tension, nuclear weaponry is not a laughing matter. In addition, with the large sum of power given to political figures, one individual's decisions can cause mass destruction. Although the Soviet Union has collapsed, its power has been inherited by other countries such as Russia. In February 2022, Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine: an ally of the United States. Since that attack, missiles have been fired and over 300,000 civilians between Russia and Ukraine have been killed or wounded. With Ukraine gaining Western support, Russia has threatened to start using nuclear weaponry. With scenes of Dr. Strangelove starting to look more realistic, s

Dr. Strangelove - Keira

March 17, 2023

The Harvard Business Review article stated that “our political system is doing precisely what it’s designed to do. It wasn’t built to deliver results in the public interest or to foster policy innovation, nor does it demand accountability for failure to do so.” This claim argues tha t US politics aren’t broken, it’s the entire political system that needs to be fixed. We can see an example of how the system doesn’t listen to public interest anymore in the film. In the movie, there were no civilians shown, no other opinions voiced except those of government officials. Even though the movie was about the government's policy over nuclear weapons, the fact that the public wasn’t given a voice, and then the world was destroyed, seems symbolic of our current political situation. Politicians don’t vote for the public’s good, because they’ll likely lose their job. It’s all about re-election and keeping office rather than solving current problems. This leads to another way our system is bro

Dr. Strangelove- Havlyn Ehrich

March 16, 2023

Dr. Strangelove is a very interesting movie. We see a satirical stance of politics addressing the Cold War at the time the movie was made. According to one of the readings posted by The Atlantic, it is noted that audiences laughed at this movie back in 1964 when it was produced. However, things became more serious as time went on and nuclear war terminology soon became the norm in public entertainment. The movie Dr. Strangelove tells the story of an individual who has gone insane and launched a nuclear missile attack on the Soviet Union. The movie highlights the incompetence of the president in the movie as well the other governmental officials. They were all acting in fear that the Soviet Union would send nuclear missiles on them too. Such a case would be considered mutual destruction: each party terminates the other. Though this was meant as a comedy, this idea became very real to the people at the time and still flourish in the lives of Americans today. The US president is a lar

Dr. Strangelove

March 15, 2023

Hannah Crouser Dr. Strangelove is a satirical comedy film about the Cold War, and the use of nuclear weapons. One major theme of the film was the idea of masculinity and femininity. Masculinity can be seen through the character of General Jack D. Ripper. The whole reason why the command to drop the nuclear weapons was sent out was because Ripper was having problems ejaculating, and was blaming it on the communists adding fluoride to the water. Ripper kept talking about how the communists and women were trying to take his “life essence”. This man caused the end of the world by not being able to accept that it was no one's fault, but his own for not being able to ejaculate. Men are told they are not masculine enough if they are anything less than this macho man. But when that idea is taken to the extreme you get people like Ripper who cause the end of the world over some fluoride in the water. The idea of femininity through a male perspective is also portrayed through the chara

Milk

March 12, 2023

Milk (2008) covers the political career of Harvey Milk, an individual famous for his activism in the movement for LGBT rights and for his status as the first openly gay man elected to public office without incumbency. This film strikes a chord particularly at a moment in the national debate where the content that is acceptable to show to children and the role of education and visibility in allegedly promoting marginalized sexualities and gender identities has become front and center politics. This film also effectively covers the difficulty of maneuvering minority rights inside a democracy. Harvey Milk’s response towards his failed elections focusing on the absurd injustices forced on his community raises questions regarding the ability for the political inclusion of marginalized groups. Milk’s eventual strategy encouraging people to come out to their parents and their friends then emphasizes the role that optics and the sympathy of the general public have played and are playing towa

Milk - Emma G.

March 12, 2023

In 2021, it was estimated that roughly 20 million Americans--roughly 8% of the adult population--were part of the LGBTQ+ community. Even more Americans reported attraction to the same sex, but were unable to give themselves a label that categorized them into the 8%. The number of Americans identifyng as part of the LGBTQ+ community has increased over the years, with a huge increase shown after the legalization of the gay marriage within the United States. In the 1970s, even some of America's communities full of LGBTQ+ activism struggled to flourish against the homophobic values within the United States. In the film Milk , Harvey Milk, an openly gay man in Castro, runs for public office. His campaign and election is met with criticism from the homophobic opposition. While campaigning, Milk famously states, " On the Statue of Liberty it says, 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.' In the Declaration of Independence, it is written, '

Milk

March 12, 2023

As discussed in class, there has been a significant increase in the acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals in the United States since the 1970s. However, with that increase in acceptance, there has been significant pushback against the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals. The societal acceptance of gay individuals is a great change that can be seen. In 1996, according to polls, 68% percent of Americans opposed gay marriage. In 2018, that flipped. 67% of Americans supported gay marriage. Although these numbers are still on the lower side, it is a significant change. In Milk , we see a version of the United States that forced gay individuals to remain private with their love lives. Supervisor Milk fought against this privacy stance greatly. Two quotes from Harvey Milk that illustrate this point are, “we will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets,” and “We are coming out to tell the truths about gays, for I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I'm going to talk about it

MILK- Havlyn Ehrich

March 12, 2023

The movie MILK follows the life of a gay rights activist Harvey Milk. This movie shows the many struggles people of this community face and exemplifies how there have been many changes in the past several years. There is no doubt that the atmosphere regarding this topic has become increasingly charged over the past years. The beginning of this charge reflects on a very well known topic: there are those who believe that LGBTQ rights are a matter of basic human dignity and equality and there are those who believe that LGBTQ rights threaten traditional values and marriage, and that accepting homosexuality goes against biblical teachings. The constant opposition between these two groups has been the topic of discussion for many years, each group standing in the way of the other. Despite these arguments, there has been a large increase in acceptance of this community as well as increasing the amount of its members. Even though we see more acceptance, that does not mean that all are willin

Milk

March 12, 2023

The topic of LGBTQ equality has been a contentious issue in the United States for decades, and the atmosphere surrounding it has become increasingly charged in recent years. This can be seen in the public debates and discussions around issues such as same-sex marriage, transgender rights, and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. On one hand, there are those who advocate for LGBTQ equality and inclusion, arguing that all people should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. These individuals believe that LGBTQ individuals should have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else, and that discrimination against them is unjust and unacceptable. In the film, Harvey Milk made his entire campaign around speaking up for those who had np voice. He focused on the LGBTQ community because no other politician had really done that before as a public member of the community. He strived to voice that being gay is

Sydney R. - Milk

March 11, 2023

The topic of LGBTQ+ rights has always been an emotionally charged topic that has created great controversy. The interesting part is that many have the privilege of viewing this as a relatively new issue, but for those who have been fighting for their rights, this issue has lasted a lot longer than people are aware of. The historical footage at the beginning of the movie and the mentions at the end pay tribute to the groups and individuals who spent much of their lives fighting for their equality. This helps the audience understand that the movie was based on real events and it puts in perspective how long the fight has been going on. I also found it interesting how, in the film, Harvey's camera store became the meeting point for the activists and many of them used the supplies to take pictures of their own. The use of photographs to document the injustices that their people were experiencing shaped their activism style as a whole. Harvey was always adamant about showing the p

Milk

March 11, 2023

The film “Milk '' follows the life of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist and the first openly gay elected official to a public office in California. The film did a good job depicting some of the struggles gay people faced at the time. Many of the characters in the film struggled with mental health, physical violence, and political persecution. However, the film did not represent LGBTQ+ women or people of color. The film was only concerned with the struggle of white gay men in the 70’s. More recently, gay rights have made great strides and LGBTQ+ rights are more celebrated. Unfortunately, the community faces continued opposition in the form of threats to trans rights such as some states not offering gender affirming care, and legislation like Florida’s “don’t say gay bill.” In many ways the LGBTQ+ rights movement has changed drastically from what it was during Harvey’s time. Trans rights was not at the forefront of the movement in the 70’s, but the movement still faces old preju

Milk - Keira

March 11, 2023

Even though anti-LGBTQ groups area a minority in the US, they have disproportionate political power. People believing that the LGBTQ community doesn't deserve equal rights or services are introducing and passing laws harming LGBTQ equality. The ACLU website has an article that says “As the 2023 legislative session begins, politicians across the country already introduced 124 total bills restricting LGBTQ people, targeting their freedom of expression, the safety of transgender students, and access to health care for gender dysphoria.” These bills could restrict health care access for transgender people, censor education and discussion about LGBTQ people/issues, and restrict nondiscrimination laws in the work place and society. Even if these bills haven’t been passed, the fact that they were introduced shows that the anti-LGBTQ political force is active, powerful, and not going away. In order to combat the threatening beliefs that the LGBTQ is a corrupting force (like how in the fi

Milk - Natalie Sharp

March 10, 2023

The film assign for this week, Milk, followed the life of Harvey Milk a gay rights activist in the 1970s and the first openly gay elected official to a public office in the United States. This movie highlighted many of the struggles gay people at the time were facing from mental health issues to violence and political scrutiny. My main issue with the film was that the actor who played Harvey and his partner who was played by James Franko, are not openly gay themselves. Having straight actors play gay characters is not authentic to their lived experiences and can be invalidating to gay identities. It allows the audience can appreciate the film and support the actor without supporting a gay actor. The actors get to play these roles but walk away as straight men. Having straight actors in this film misses the opportunity to highlight gay actors and reinforces the notion that straight is the norm. In addition, this film only highlights the white gay man's experiences and fails to rep

Milk

March 08, 2023

Maddie Dieringer During class we discussed how acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals has changed quickly compared to other public opinions throughout history. This makes sense with my understanding of history, but I feel as though there has been an increase in the number of laws taking rights away from LGBTQ+ individuals, especially people who are transgender. I did a few quick google searches and found that there were 17 anti-LGBTQ laws passed in 2021 which was the worst year for LGBTQ rights since 2015. It seems that with more awareness and progress there is even more legislative push back to create laws that harm LGBTQ people than before. According to the American Civil Liberties Union there are 389 anti-LGBTQ bills being introduced across the US having to do with health care, education, civil rights, free speech and more. Linked below is the ACLU page that is kept up to date. In the film Milk we see some of the adversity gay individuals faced during the 70s, and it's easy to see